2021 Seattle mayoral election
The 2021 Seattle mayoral election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the Mayor of Seattle. It was won by former Seattle City Council President Bruce Harrell, who defeated then-current President Lorena González; both candidates had advanced from a nonpartisan primary election on August 3.
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| Turnout | 54.57% | ||||||||||||
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Harrell: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% González: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Tie: 40–50% 50% | |||||||||||||
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| Elections in Washington |
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Incumbent mayor Jenny Durkan initially sought reelection to a second term in office in February 2020, but withdrew that December due to backlash from her handling of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in Seattle as well as the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest during the George Floyd protests.
Harrell held a 24-point lead over González when she conceded on November 4; his margin of victory was the largest of a non-incumbent candidate in a Seattle mayoral race since the 1969 election of Wesley C. Uhlman. Harrell took over as mayor on January 1, 2022, having previously held the position as acting mayor for five days in September 2017 upon the resignation of Ed Murray; due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, he was sworn in privately the prior week and held a small inauguration ceremony on January 4.
The 2021 election was the first in which mayoral candidates were eligible to use Seattle's democracy vouchers program, which has captured the interest of other cities.